Tesla’s newly-launched ride-hailing service in San Francisco isn’t quite ready for the “robotaxi” designation. After launching its robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, with a “safety monitor” in the passenger seat last month, a video of Tesla’s service in San Francisco shows a vehicle arriving with a human at the wheel, as reported earlier by Business Insider.
California requires companies to obtain three permits to operate a commercial robotaxi service. So far, the state has granted Tesla just one of the permits, allowing it to run a ride-hailing service with humans in the driver’s seat. The Alphabet-owned Waymo is currently the only company with the permits to offer commercial driverless rides in San Francisco.
Even though the service in Texas and California hasn’t yet achieved Musk’s promise of operating with “no one in the car,” Musk told Tesla investors last week that he plans to expand robotaxi service to Florida, Nevada, and Arizona.
